Russia Stocks Snap Two Days of Gains on Rates, U.S. Budget Woes

By Jason Corcoran and Maria Levitov -
Jan 15, 2013

Russian (INDEXCF) stocks fell for the first
time in three days as the central bank kept rates on hold and
investor appetite for riskier assets declined on concern the
U.S. budget dispute may derail an economic recovery.

Concern about the U.S. economy increased after Treasury
Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said government borrowing limits
may be breached as early as next month unless Congress raises
the debt ceiling. Bank Rossii left borrowing costs unchanged,
holding the refinancing rate at 8.25 percent for a fourth month,
the Moscow-based central bank said in a statement on its website
today. The decision was forecast by all 19 economists in a
Bloomberg survey.

“The main issues blocking the bull market are the U.S.
delayed fiscal solutions,” Mark Rubinstein, head of research at
IFC Metropol, said in an e-mailed report today.